


War Pigs

by steeleye



Series: A Women's World. [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, Humour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-22 16:52:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17666402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steeleye/pseuds/steeleye
Summary: “EWWWW!” Inanna cried out in disgust as blood spurted from the mad woman's chest to spray over her own face and breasts, it was only now that Inanna realised she was stark naked, “Oh my...” she added as she dropped the dagger and stepped away from the very dead woman who now lay in a crumpled, bloody, heap on the floor. What to do when a 'mad magic lady' snatches you away from almost certain death and you wake up in a cave full of dead goats.





	1. Chapter 1

War Pigs.

By Steeleye.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything you might recognise as coming from film, TV or literature, I write these stories for fun not profit.

 **Crossover:** None.

 **Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar:** Written in glorious UK-English (the original and best) which is different to US-English.

 **Timeline:** First story in the 'Woman's World' series.

 **Words:** Six chapters each of about 2500 words.

 **Warnings:** Always keep you hand on your ha’penny.

 **Summary:** “EWWWW!” Inanna cried out in disgust as blood spurted from the mad woman's chest to spray over her own face and breasts, it was only now that Inanna realised she was stark naked, “Oh my...” she added as she dropped the dagger and stepped away from the very dead woman who now lay in a crumpled, bloody, heap on the floor. What to do when a 'mad magic lady' snatches you away from almost certain death and you wake up in a cave full of dead goats.

0=0=0=0

_Generals gathered in their masses,  
Just like witches at black masses.  
Evil minds that plot destruction,   
Sorcerer of death's construction.  
In the fields the bodies burning,   
As the war machine keeps turning.  
Death and hatred to mankind,   
Poisoning their brainwashed minds.  
Oh lord yeah!_

War Pigs; Black Sabbath.

~

**851 After the Fall in what was once Northern Oregon.**

Having died at least once or possibly twice; Inanna (or just 'Anna' to her friends) had never been one-hundred percent sure if she'd actually died when that demon shot her in the chest with the crossbow. However, Inanna considered herself something of an expert on the subject. So, it wasn't surprising that as her eyes opened she had the strongest feeling that there was something different about this time. Her last memories were of demons clawing at her as she fought them in the caverns under her friend Ayasha's stronghold. The demons had climbed up from the very pit of hell and swarmed into the tunnels and caverns under the stronghold, where she stood with Ayasha's soldiers. The demons had easily overrun the soldiers, Inanna had a memory of yelling at her sister, Aurora and the other survivors to get out and warn everyone up in the stronghold to get out and run. They'd lost and The Other's minions had won...again.

Lying there, because she was lying down, that wasn't an issue, Inanna thought back to those last few seconds, moments really and wondered. Yes, she'd been surrounded by demons; yes, she knew she was going to die (again) any second, but... But this time it felt different somehow; it'd seemed to her that as the first demon touched her (that is, took a firm hold of her arm in its vice like grip), that she had been pulled away to...to, well, here, wherever 'here' was. It was time, she decided, for her to wake up and smell the roses, or at least discover what that goddess-awful-smell was which was assaulting her really cute nose.

Blinking her eyes fully open, Inanna saw weird shadows dancing across the roof of what could only be described as a cave. Pushing herself up onto her elbows she looked around to discover that she _was_ in a cave, and a pretty large one too. The walls of this cavern were daubed with what she suspected were magic symbols, drawn in red-brown paint. Every flat surface appeared to have either one of those big fat candles that you only ever saw in temples or some sort of object, that she suspected was 'magic', upon it.

“She's alive! SHE'S ALIVE!!!” screamed an all too insane voice.

The cry caused Inanna to turn her head and bring the speaker into her field of vision. Blinking once again (this time because she didn't believe what her eyes were telling her), Inanna took in the apparition before her; the woman, who was back lit by a fire like this was part of a bad horror themed play, was unusually tall and very thin; she had long, grey, matted hair and the rags she was clothed in looked like they may once have been a long black dress; she also wore a tea cosy on her head, a little like the one Ayasha had sometimes used to keep the tea in her teapot warm. Hanging around her neck were what Inanna suspected were magic charms, there were also charm bracelets around both her wrists and one of her ankles. But what really convinced Inanna that this woman wasn't on the 'up and up' was the way she held a bloody dagger in her left hand and a dead goat in her right. Her eyes flicked from the woman to the floor around the woman's feet; there seemed to be an awful lot of blood and dead goats lying around. This, she decided was probably what was causing the really bad smell that pervaded the cave. Remembering something that Ayasha had once told her about people who needed to sacrifice lots of goats to perform their spells, she jumped up off the slab of rock where she'd been lying to confront the knife wielding mad woman.

“MAW-HA-HA!” cackled the woman insanely as Inanna stood before her a little unsteadily.

This was something else Ayasha had warned her about; anyone who cackled insanely and especially anyone who went 'Maw-Ha-Ha' was not to be trusted and were probably out to rain evil down on an unsuspecting world. Looking around frantically, Inanna saw a rather ornate sacrificial dagger lying unattended on a ledge about six feet to her right. Two long strides took her to the dagger, reaching out she took the knife in her hand before she turned and sprang at the woman plunging the blade deep into her heart.

“EWWWW!” Inanna cried out in disgust as blood spurted from the mad woman's chest to spray over her own face and breasts, it was only now that Inanna realised she was stark naked, “Oh my...” she added as she dropped the dagger and stepped away from the very dead woman who now lay in a crumpled, bloody, heap on the floor.

It was also, more or less, at this point that Inanna threw up. Doubled over, she retched and coughed and spat the vomit from her mouth. This she decided as her eyes watered and her stomach heaved was not normal; she'd killed lots of things, even quite a lot of people before and it had never affected her like this. Spitting to get the last pieces of regurgitated breakfast from her mouth, she realised that as she'd probably been brought here by magic, perhaps this was an effect of magical travel, magic-lag perhaps?

Recovering quickly, Inanna looked around the cave once more, her own or any other clothes were not immediately visible. Looking down at the dead, mad, woman's rags she decided she'd rather walk naked through the village market than strip the old woman of her clothes and wear them. Her search for something to wear while not discovering any clothes did identify what might be an exit from the chamber she was in and a possible route to a source of clothing. Gingerly stepping over the corpse, Inanna made her way over to a door sized hole in the cave wall. Walking through the hole and down a short passageway, she found herself in a much larger chamber. This chamber was illuminated by sunlight that streamed in through a large hole that exposed a big area of blue sky. Taking in huge lungfuls of fresh air, Inanna sighed thankful to be away from the stench of the inner chamber. Only then did she look around this new part of the cave. A thorough search found some rancid food and an unusually large collection of weapons, but, unfortunately, no clothes, there wasn't even a blanket to wrap herself in.

The thought that the local sheriff would arrest her for indecent exposure or something paled into insignificance when she remembered that she'd probably be charged with murder as soon as someone found the old woman's body. Whatever, it couldn't be helped and she could probably claim self defence or at least temporary insanity. Surely any judge and jury would take into account that she'd been magically 'kidnapped', plus there were all those dead goats. Feeling a little happier about any future brush with the local law enforcement officers, Inanna found herself examining the cache of weapons.

The pile of weapons contained swords of various types plus a few axes, knives and things that you whirled around your head before you used them to hit someone else on the head. Eventually Inanna found herself oddly drawn to a sabre, it was just like the ones used by Ayasha's cavalry soldiers. It came complete with a scabbard and a belt. Buckling the belt around her waist, Inanna found that the sabre still dragged along the ground and threatened to trip her up as she walked. Inanna was only about five foot tall, she also had large breasts and blonde hair, being able to cook as well as being a Fury she had no difficulty finding girlfriends, not that finding a girlfriend was at the fore front of her mind just at the moment.

After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, she managed to secure the weapon across her back in such a way as she could reach over her right shoulder to draw the weapon. A couple of practice draws proved she could get the sabre out quickly enough, putting it back into its scabbard was a little more problematic. However, she supposed that with a little practice she could work it out. Threading a long heavy bladed knife and its sheath on to another belt, Inanna found that this fitted perfectly around her waist. It was as she was buckling up he newly acquired knife belt that she asked herself an important question. Why did she suddenly feel the need to arm herself?

Well, she mused, she'd woken up in a cave that wasn't full of demons but did have its very own mad-magic-lady. Obviously she'd been snatched away from certain death by said mad-magic-lady for her own nefarious reasons. The use of the word, 'nefarious' made Inanna smile, Ayasha would have used a word like nefarious...she wondered for a moment where her friend and lover, Ayasha, was right now and then she wondered where her sister Aurora and all her other friends where. Had they heeded Aurora's warning to get away? Had Aurora even managed to reach the surface and warn everyone to get out? Inanna decided that she had to find everyone and to do that she had to find her way back to the stronghold whatever the dangers might be. Walking up the slight slope that led to the cave mouth, Inanna paused at the entrance to gaze out at the world.

“Oh my!” she gasped as she looked out at what appeared to be miles upon miles of trees, “At least its not a hell dimension...” she told herself uncertainly, “...unless this is like a tree-hell-dimension...or a totally hell-tree-dimension!” 

The cave mouth was situated on the side of a hill, from where Inanna was standing she couldn't see how far the hill went up. However, she could see a path that meandered down the slope to where a sparkling stream flowed between the trees about fifty yards away. Still having the sour taste of vomit in her mouth she headed on down the slope only to be brought up short after just a couple of paces.

“OW!” Inanna cried out as she stepped on something sharp.

Hopping on one foot, she examined the sole of her other foot. There was no blood but there was a lot of dust and dirt from the cave and path. Realising that until her feet hardened up or she found some shoes she was going to have to be careful where she put her feet, slowly and carefully she made made her way down towards the stream.

After washing out her mouth and drinking several cupped handfuls of the fresh, clean, cold water, Inanna sat on the stream bank and wondered what she should do next. Obviously she was miles from civilisation, but so far she'd not noticed any monsters stalking her or even any bears or other examples of forest wildlife. However, she had heard some birds singing and had noticed, on her short journey to the stream, an eagle or something drifting lazily across the sky; she'd also saw how the path started again on the other side of the stream. With no other clue as to where to go or what to do, she decided to follow the path. After all, she told herself, it had to lead somewhere. Another thing was that the path looked smooth and free of anything that might make holes in her feet, so that had to be of the good, right? After taking one more mouthful of water, she stood up, stepped across the stream and started to walk along the path to who knew where.

0=0=0=0

A little later Inanna found herself sitting on a bolder at the side of the path, she rubbed her foot and reflected on how she'd never _really_ appreciated shoes until now when she didn't have any. Of course she'd liked shoes (and boots), in fact some uncharitable people might think that she was obsessed with shoes and boots and sandals, in fact footwear in general. But that was all purely from a fashion statement point of view. Today she wished she had a pair of shoes simply to stop her feet from hurting and to prevent herself from stubbing her toes.

Having walked for what felt like hours, Inanna had worked out a couple of things. First it was morning. As she'd walked the sun had risen higher and higher into the clear blue sky which would seem to suggest that she'd appeared wherever she was at the about the same time of day as she'd suddenly left Ayasha's stronghold. This made sense because it'd been morning when she'd led her ill fated expedition down into the caverns under the castle. Although the sun was high in the sky now, sunburn didn't look like it was going to be an issue. The path was shaded by the great pine trees that thrust themselves into the sky on either side of the track.

The forest itself was one of those forests that really took itself seriously, there were no grassy, sunlight glades, no pretty flowers or cute bunnies. No, this forest was heavily into gloom and closely spaced trees, Inanna had the impression that if she strayed from the path she'd be completely lost within a space of a few yards. The path she was following was smooth for the most part which gave it the impression of being well used. So far, however, she'd met no one and no 'thing' on the track and she hadn't noticed any footprints or tracks left by animals. The trail wound its way down along a narrow valley crossing and recrossing the stream that had first drawn her down out of the magic-woman's cave. Oddly the country around her looked a lot like home, but it wasn't.

Regretting having killed the mad-magic-lady so quickly, Inanna was now wishing she'd spent a few minutes questioning her, before plunging the knife into her evil-black-heart. But, what was done was done and as her mother (a powerful witch) might have said it was no use crying over spilt blood; she'd just have to make the best of the situation and hope that she got to a road or track before she got hungry. Standing up, Inanna heard her stomach rumble, a reminder that she'd not had a big breakfast and what she had eaten was now on the floor of the mad woman's cave.

“Note to self,” Inanna muttered as she made her way along the path, “before going out to fight the forces of evil, have a proper breakfast...then totally try to keep it down.”

Walking on, Inanna dropped into a sort of dream-like state. There was nothing to see (except trees) and little to hear, other than the sound of the stream close by and the occasional bird singing in the branches. Very soon she started to imagine warriors who said things like 'nee' jumping out at her and demanding that she brought them a 'shrubbery', whatever a shrubbery might be. This memory reminded Inanna of her sister Aurora again; Aurora had loved making up funny little plays and stories. Not knowing if her sister was dead or alive weighed heavily on Inanna's soul. It was as she sniffed and wiped away the tears that were forming in her eyes that she noticed the smell of burning wood.

Perhaps she'd found a campsite with the local equivalent of Forest Rangers, or maybe it was hunters camping out in the wilderness. Whatever was making the wood-smoke smell, Inanna had a couple of decisions to make, chief among them was should she appear naked and armed and frighten whoever was out camping? Deciding to go with 'caution' Inanna told herself that knowing her luck it could be a bunch of demonic raiders out to gang rape lone furies that they just happened to bump into as they travelled along the forest trails.

Walking on a little further, Inanna noticed how the pathway had straightened out and had taken on the appearance of a tunnel through the trees leading to what looked like the edge of the forest. Her heart beating with joy at the prospect of safety, clothes, food and most importantly shoes, she trotted towards the sunlight. Coming out onto a grassy meadow she saw what was causing the smell of wood-smoke and it wasn't coming from a camp.

0=0=0=0

Highlight and right click to hear Black Sabbath play 'War Pigs'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQUXuQ6Zd9w


	2. Chapter 2

2.

Brought up short by the sight of the burning farmstead, Inanna's hand went automatically to the hilt of her newly acquired sabre. Stepping off the track, she crouched down in the long, cool grass at the edge of the forest and watched as several figures appeared from behind what looked like a barn. Sharp fury eyes picked out details as her mind, once again, refused to believe what they were telling her brain. Blinking her eyes hoping to remove the scene in front of her, Inanna opened them again and took a second look.

“Darn!” she breathed quietly, it wasn't a mirage brought on by not having a proper breakfast, this was real and she needed to _do_ something about it and do it quickly.

Standing up and drawing her sabre, Inanna suddenly found herself face to face with one of the demons she'd spotted down by the burning farm. The demon was about her height, maybe a little taller. It wore metal studied leather armour that covered its chest and thighs plus heavy looking leather boots that came up to its knees, just for a moment Inanna felt a twinge of boot jealousy, but that didn't last for long because the demon grunted at her as it drew a scimitar-like sword from its belt.

The demon grunted because it had the head and face of what, to Inanna's limited knowledge on the subject, looked like a wild boar's head complete with tusks. The creature grunted and oinked at her some more, although the grunts sounded like speech it was no kind of speech that she understood. Deciding that the time had come for action not words, she leapt at the demon swinging her sabre at its neck as she moved. With demonic speed the pig-demon managed to intercept Inanna's blade with its own. The two swords clanged together causing sparks fly in all directions. Jumping back out of reach of the demon as it swung its weapon towards her body, Inanna felt the razor sharp blade pass within a fraction of an inch of her stomach.

Diving and rolling to her right to take her away from the pig monster's sword arm, Inanna bounced to her feet and lunged with the point of her sabre. The fury powered blade easily defeated the pig-demon's leather armour and sank a good six inches into the creature's chest. The pig let out a high pitched squeal as it clutched a large, trotter-like hand to the wound. Staggering backwards it fell first to one knee and then to the other as Inanna swung her sword again. The pig-warrior managed to raise his blade to parry the blow just in time for the swords to ring together once again. Drawing back her arm once more, Inanna recovered her blade and this time when she struck out at the creature it had no chance of blocking her attack. When the blades met, Inanna's sabre broke the blade of the scimitar with a loud and for the pig creature, fatal, 'clang'. The edge of Inanna's sword, hardly slowed by the pig's scimitar, bit easily into the side of its neck cutting through flesh, cartilage and bone. Blood fountained into the air as the swine's head spun away to land in the grass several feet away. The demon's body slowly fell over on to its left side to lie still in the blood stained grass.

Pausing only to check that the pig was actually dead (some things didn't die even after you'd cut their heads off), Inanna turned and started to run towards the farm. There were several wooden building; there was a barn, which was now well on fire, along with several smaller out buildings and what she guessed was the farmhouse itself. The entire set up reminded her of the farms near where she'd grown up. There was a corral with a couple of panicking horses running around in it and she could just make out some fenced off fields with crops, also burning, in them. More importantly she could see a couple of the pig warriors drag a large wooden trunk from the house and start to go through its contents.

By 'go though its contents' the pigs were actually just pulling out what looked like clothes from the interior of the trunk and discard them onto the ground. Part of Inanna's brain noted the clothes and rejoiced that as soon as she'd dealt with the war-pigs she'd maybe be able to pick up something to wear. Not noticing Inanna until it was far too late for the two pigs to actually do anything about her, they quickly died in a welter of blood and severed limbs. Again not even pausing to pick out a new outfit, or a pair of shoes, Inanna ran on until she came to the corner of the farmhouse, sliding to a halt she stood and listened for a second.

“GET OFFA ME YOU FREAKS!” a loud and very frightened female voice came from around the corner of the farmhouse.

Bursting out into the open, Inanna's eyes took in the scene before her in an instant. One demon was holding down the arms of a young, woman or girl with dark hair and swarthy skin, as his buddy knelt between her legs. By the way the girl's long skirt was pushed up around her hips and how the war-pig had his big, blood engorged penis in his trotter-like hand it was fairly obvious what was going to happen in the next few moments if Inanna didn't act right now.

“GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!” the girl cried out belligerently, “YOU'LL BE _SOOO_ SORRY IF YOU TOUCH ME WITH THAT THING!”

The war-pig grunted a laugh just as Inanna's sword swept around and cut its head clean off.

“EWWWWWWWW!” screamed the girl as hot, pig blood gushed all over her.

The second pig grunted, oinked and squealed in alarm as it tried to get to its feet and pull the big double bladed battleaxe from off its back. Stamping her foot forward, Inanna thrust her blade into the war-pig's throat and up into his brain. With a quiet grunt the war-pig fell over backwards dragging Inanna's sword from the wound in its neck as it did so.

“Are there any more?” Inanna demanded of the girl who was busily wiping blood from her face and eyes.

“What!?” the girl spluttered once she'd got most of the blood out of her eyes and could see Inanna clearly.

“Are there any more of these demons?”

“Demons?” the girl was struggling to get to her feet as she pushed her blood drenched skirt down.

“I've killed five, are there any more?”

“Five...?” the girl seemed to shake herself before she replied, “...erm, no, five that was all that stayed behind...”

“Good,” Inanna relaxed and started to look for something to wipe the blood off her sabre, as she looked, she noticed how she really needed to take a bath, she was covered from head to foot in pig's blood, “Eww,” she added quietly and was actually quite grateful she wasn't wearing clothes.

“Like, ew,” replied the girl as she regained control of her brain now the mind-numbing fear had been removed, “you know I could have totally have dealt with those freaks myself.”

“Totally didn't look like it from where I was standing,” Inanna pointed out as she once again remembered she was dressed only in a lot of pig's blood and a couple of belts.

“Anyway, what are you?” the girl asked as she started to head towards the farm house, “A member of some sort of weird, fanatic, fury cult?”

“Fanatic Fury Cult?” Inanna repeated quietly to herself more than a little confused.

“Going into battle naked,” the girl explained.

“Oh that?” Inanna smiled self-consciously once again wishing she had something to wear, “I...erm...I...sorta lost my clothes somewhere out in...the...forest...”

Inanna's voice wound down like a clock as she ran out of cover story.

“Well,” the girl sighed as she picked at her own blood soaked clothing, “I suppose I should thank you, even if I could have killed those two jokers myself...” the girl took a deep breath, “...thank-you for saving my life, I'm Glinda the Witch...”

“What?” Inanna for a moment forgot her lack of clothing.

“Glinda the Witch...” Glinda repeated.

“Glinda, like in the Sorceress of Oz stories?” Inanna asked.

“What's a Sorceress of Oz?” Glinda wanted to know.

“Over the rainbow?” Inanna replied absent-mindedly, “Oh..I'm Inanna by the way...”

“Inanna?” Glinda frowned as if she was thinking hard and trying to remember something, a light came on over her head, “A-HA! That's the name of one of the gods that the Fornian people pray to...bunch of wierdos if you ask me...”

“I wasn't and I don't know what you're talking about,” being nude was making Inanna testy, “I wanna know where I am, where I can get a bath and some clothes and how I can get back to Ayasha's Stronghold.”

“Ayasha's Stronghold?” Glinda shrugged, “Never heard of the place, but the other stuff should be in there,” she pointed to the farmhouse, “come on.”

0=0=0=0

“AAAAGH!” Inanna screamed as she nearly tripped over another body which was just lying inside the door of the farmhouse.

“What's wrong with you,” Glinda wanted to know as she knelt down to get a closer look at the body, “never seen a dead body before?”

“What!?” Inanna rested her hand over her pounding heart for a moment, “Look, I'm totally not having a good day today and its not being made any better by almost tripping over a dead body.”

“Whatever,” Glinda shrugged as she touched the arrow sticking out of the dead woman's chest, before adding a contemplative, “Hmmm...”

“Hmm?” Inanna quieried.

“Crossbow bolt,” Glinda gestured to the missile sticking out of the woman's chest.

“What about it?” Inanna stood behind Glinda to stare over the girl's shoulder at the dead woman.

“Did you notice if any of those war-pigs were carrying crossbows?”

“Now that you mention it...no,” Inanna replied as she realised where Glinda was going with this.

“I think we better leave this place...and soon,” Glinda explained as she stood up.

“Not until I wash off this blood and find something to wear...”

“Actually you can stay just as you are, minus the blood of course, as far as I'm concerned,” Glinda said with a grin.

“No thank-you,” Inanna replied as she stepped over another body, “got another body here...”

“Probably the farmer and her wife,” Glinda went to look at the other dead woman, “I wonder where their children are?”

“Children?” Inanna asked uncertainly.

“Farmers usually have large families,” Glinda pointed out, “the kids totally help out with the chores, like children are an investment...” Glinda paused and looked at Inanna for a moment before asking, “...aren't farmers where you come from like that?”

“I suppose,” Inanna shrugged; she smiled when she saw an, iron, water pump next to a big sink in what must be the kitchen, “I lived in a town for most of my life,” she explained, something was telling her not to go into details just now, “my mom was a witch and sold old magic stuff and spells.”

“Oh, you mean like old magic stuff from the 'Time Before'?” Glinda frowned as she joined Inanna at the sink.

“Yeah,” Inanna nodded as she started to pump water into the sink, “something like that.”

As the two young women washed the blood from their bodies they swapped life stories or at least Glinda did, Inanna claimed amnesia from an imaginary bump to the head so only had to give the barest of details about her past. However, Glinda was more than happy to talk about herself. It seemed that she was only seventeen years old, she'd been training as a witch since she'd been thirteen. Her 'mothers' had lived near a place called Porlan, which from the way Glinda spoke of it must have been a big town north of where they were now situated on the banks of a big river. When Inanna asked for the name of the river, Glinda had simply shrugged and said it was called 'The River'. After completing her witch training, Glinda had been sent out into the world to fight evil and help people. If Inanna had got it right, witches in these parts not only performed magic, but they were also travelling doctors, dentists and mid-wives, a lot of responsibility for a seventeen year old girl. 

Having washed the blood off themselves they searched the house for new clothes. In one of the rooms at the back of the farmhouse they'd found three bunk beds. In the drawers of a chest and inside a closet they found clothes belonging to teenage girls and younger girls. After searching through the clothes Inanna found some that were the right size for her; she chose a pair of denim-like pants that were designed to be worn with a short skirt over the top. There was a white linen shirt and a leather waistcoat to complete the outfit. Although she'd found some panties there wasn't a bra so she had to resign herself to having her breasts bounce about as she walked or ran. Glinda, who only had small breasts didn't really need a bra so the lack of one wasn't really a problem to her. However, she found something similar and added wide brimmed hats to their outfits. Also, much to her relief and after trying on ever pair of shoes in the house, Inanna found a pair of riding boots that fitted.

“You don't think anyone will mind us taking all this stuff, do you?” Inanna asked as she pulled on her new boots.

“I doubt it,” Glinda explained, “if the daughters of the house are lucky they'll be dead by now...”

“Dead!?” Inanna was shocked by the statement and added, “Lucky?”

“Don't you have War-pigs where you come from?”

“Not as such,” Inanna admitted with a shrug.

“Well,” Glinda sighed heavily before explaining, “we have a lot of demons up here in Orgon but the worst, or at least the best organised are the war-pigs...they raid farms and take away girls so they can do unspeakable things to them, you saw what those two jokers were going to do to me, right?” she gestured to the two dead demons outside, “Well, that was nothing to what they really like to do given the time...”

“Haven't you got an army to hunt these things down?” Inanna wanted to know.

“There's not been a Governor up here for hundreds of years, so there's no National Guard,” Glinda explained, “and the local Ladies won't risk their soldiers by chasing after demons...they're too busy fighting each other to see who's gonna be governor

“Oh...” Inanna replied quietly, Orgon appeared to be a country on the verge of anarchy.

“Anyway, there's no time, we've got to be on our way unless you want to spend the rest of your short life entertaining the war-pigs,” Glinda headed for the door as she spoke, “can you ride?”

0=0=0=0


	3. Chapter 3

3.

After ransacking the farmhouse for food, spare clothes and equipment, such as something to cook with and any money they could find, Inanna and Glinda walked over to where the two horses where kept. It was only then that Inanna noticed that Glinda had a long, thin bladed sword at her hip, a knife and a small round shield hooked over the hilt of her sword. Glinda explained that these were the weapons she'd carried, and had not had a chance to use, when she'd been captured by the war-pigs, she called her sword her 'pig sticker' and referred to the small shield as a 'soup plate' which it roughly resembled. 

Inanna also wondered why the war-pigs hadn't taken the horses, Glinda explained that War-pigs preferred bigger, heavier horses capable of taking their weight. They were lucky the demons had left the horses behind and hadn't eaten them, apparently war-pigs enjoyed horse-meat almost as much a human-flesh. 

The two horses that Inanna had seen in the farm's little corral earlier turned out to be riding horses and Glinda announced that they were their ticket out of the forest. It was then that Inanna admitted to having never ridden a horse in her life. Looking at her as if she'd just dropped from the sky, Glinda asked Inanna how people got around where she lived. Giving a shrug, Inanna explained that there were carriages and people to drive them and look after the horses. 

First there was the small problem of saddling the horses. Giving Inanna a patient look, Glinda had explained where all the straps went and how all the buckles were done up. Next Inanna, once again, admitted to having never ridden a horse in her life. Until the day she was old and grey, she would remember the next thirty minutes as possibly the most embarrassing of her life; just how many times could someone fall off a horse in half-an-hour? 

After Inanna had fallen off her horse for about the tenth time, Glinda's patience finally snapped. Yelling at Inanna to think of the 'damn horse' as a weapon she watched as Inanna slowly climbed back into the saddle; this time finding herself more firmly in the saddle, she smiled with relief. Having followed Glinda's advice and thought about the horse as a weapon she felt much more confident and secure and from that point onwards riding slowly became second nature to her and she only fell off once or twice a day.

0=0=0=0

“So which way do we go?” Inanna asked after they'd loaded up their horses with everything they'd stolen/borrowed from the farmhouse.

“South,” Glinda turned her horse's head towards a path that led off into the forest; the clearing where the farm was situated appeared to be the junction of several different tracks.

“But the war-pigs went that-a-way,” Inanna pointed to some fairly obvious tracks that headed off towards the forest in a westerly direction.

“You want to go chasing off after a bunch of war-pigs?” Glinda asked with heavy sarcasm.

“You said yourself that they've taken the children prisoner,” Inanna pointed out, “we should help, go find them or something.”

“The pigs are probably raping them to death even as we speak!” Glinda pointed out.

“All the more reason to get after them as fast as we can,” Inanna replied.

“You gotta death wish or something?” Glinda wanted to know.

“I'm a Fury, rescuing people, particularly children, is totally what I do,” Inanna explained angrily, “and just what kind of witch are you?” she demanded, “All the witches I've ever know would jump at the chance to help out, no questions asked.”

“Then there can't be many witches left alive where you come from then! If they go chasing off after war-pigs at the drop of a hat!” Glinda snapped, the sound of her voice making her horse dance nervously across the yard in front of the farmhouse.

“Well I'm going to see what I can do,” Inanna explained earnestly, “even if I can't rescue the children I can kill the demons.”

“Do what you want, fury!” Glinda growled, “but don't you come crying to me when the war-pigs are chewing on your bones.”

“Whatever,” Inanna snarled as she turned her horse to follow the tracks.

“Yeah, whatever!” Glinda called back as she kicked her horse into motion and trotted off towards the southward track.

0=0=0=0

Bouncing in her saddle like a sack of potatoes as her horse trotted towards the forest edge, Inanna wondered if she could have said anything differently to have made Glinda come with her. Shaking her head she decided that Glinda was determined to go south and there'd been nothing she could have said or done to change her mind. In a way she could understand Glinda's actions. The war-pigs were frightening and strong, to anyone who wasn't a fury they were pretty formidable, plus Glinda was a young witch and probably not very powerful. Inanna was used to working with Ayasha, possibly one of the most powerful witches in the world, but even Ayasha wasn't very good at all the combat stuff.

Pausing where the tracks led into the forest, Inanna stopped and looked around, Glinda was already out of sight. Looking into the forest, she noted that the track she was about to follow was actually quite wide once you got away from the forest edge. Urging her horse forward, she rode under the first trees and on into the cool, green, shadowy forest. As she rode deeper into the forest she found it had quite a different character to the forest she'd experienced earlier in the day.

Here the trees were more widely spaced and instead of pine trees the trees here abouts were broad leafed ones. There was even some grass and flowers growing where storms had caused trees to fall and open holes in the branches that cut out the sunlight. Glancing down at the ground Inanna looked at the tracks, she was no tracker but there did seem to be an awful lot of pig-like footprints. For a moment Inanna remembered what Glinda had said about war-pigs chewing on her bones. Forcing herself to laugh at her worries, she reminded herself that she was Inanna, she was tough and strong and resourceful and brave and...and... Well, a monster would have to get up pretty early to get the better of her.

0=0=0=0

Sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree, Inanna tried to come to terms with everything that had happened to her in the last twenty-four to thirty-six hours. In that time she'd gone from battling the demons under Ayasha's stronghold to chasing after pig-like demons. While these thoughts caused more questions than it gave answers to pop into her head, it did increase her resolve to try and rescue the children stolen by the pig-demons.

Just at that moment Inanna's resolution needed a little bolstering. Having ridden into the forest she'd left making camp just a little too late and as a result she'd had to collect fire wood, care for her horse and herself, in the dark and it got dark pretty quick under the trees. Having never been an outdoorsy type of girl, Inanna decided she hated this forest. Chasing demons was one thing, but having to squat to pee and there not being a bath or any hot water, soap and make-up, was quite another completely. Then there was the added problem of the horse. There was no instruction manual to go with the animal, so Inanna didn't know if she was caring for the beast correctly; she had vague memories of seeing people brush their horses and what exactly did horses eat? Her horse appeared content enough to eat the grass in the clearing where she'd camped but was that all it needed?

Then there was her own care and feeding to worry about. Even back in her own home once again Inanna wasn't exactly 'little Miss Home-maker'. She could cook basic stuff, but her mom had done most of the cooking and looking after her daughters, unfortunately she'd not passed those skills on to her oldest daughter. Making the fire, Inanna was now staring into, had taken her about half-an-hour and that was _after_ she'd found what she thought was enough firewood, she kept having to go and find more because the fire ate it at an alarming rate. For her supper Inanna had eaten some cold smoked bacon and bread washed down with water from one of the big canteens Glinda had insisted they hang from the horns of their saddles. There was some coffee beans and a grinder, but she couldn't work out how it worked and coffee made her jittery anyway.

All things considered, right at this moment, Inanna wasn't the happiest fury in the multi-verse; she was lost in a strange forest and she was worrying about what had happened to Ayasha and all her other friends. For a moment she did think that she might have been transported to one of those 'after-life' realities, but it just didn't feel right. There were no harps, clouds and none of those long, white nightdress things you were supposed to wear after you'd died, plus she'd not caught one glimpse of the Goddess. 

Yawning, Inanna got up to collect her blanket from the pile of gear she'd unloaded from her horse when she heard a twig snap about twenty yards to her rear-left. Pretending not to notice, she went on with what she was doing. Collecting her blanket she moved back to her spot by the fire which was co-incidentally also the place where she'd left her weapons. Whoever was sneaking up on her was doing a pretty good job of it, but however quiet they were they obviously didn't know about fury hearing.

“HAH!” Inanna cried as she turned and presented the tip of her sabre to the throat of the desperado who'd been creeping up on her; stopping herself from pushing the blade right through her victim, she said, “Glinda?”

“In-Inanna?” the girl in question had dropped her sword and had raised her hands in token of surrender.

“What...?” Inanna lowered her sword.

“I realised I couldn't just leave you, so I came back to find you,” Glinda explained in a hurry.

“Oh...” Inanna replied not knowing what else to say, it only took a few more seconds for her to think of something however, “Why were you, like, sneaking up on me?”

“I couldn't be sure it was you...” Glinda explained, “...can I put my hands down now please?”

“Yeah, totally,” Inanna nodded, “where's your horse?” 

“I left him back in the woods a-ways, can I go get him before he's eaten by wolves?”

“Wolves?” Inanna gasped, “There's wolves?”

“Don't tell me,” Glinda sighed as she lowered her arms, “there's no wolves where you come from, right?”

“Not as such...no,” Inanna admitted defensively.

0=0=0=0

“I'm not a good witch,” Glinda announced sometime later as both she and Inanna sat on the tree trunk and stared into the fire.

After Glinda had arrived in camp and gone to collect her horse, she'd moved around Inanna's camp site like some sort of camp building fairy. Putting things right, Glinda had muttered and tutted to herself as she corrected all the mistakes Inanna had made. Finally, after remaking the fire, she ground some coffee beans and made a pot of coffee. Now they were sitting companionably by the fire sipping their coffee which Inanna was convinced would keep her up all night one way or another.

“I'm so not a good witch,” Glinda repeated with a sigh; Inanna thought it was best if she kept quiet and let the girl get whatever she had to say off her chest. “I mean, I'm not evil or anything and I know all my spells and things, I'm even very good at them but...”

“But...?” Inanna prompted.

“But...but I'm not what you'd call a very brave witch...”

“Most people aren't,” Inanna replied with a shrug, “even I've been frightened...sometimes...like ages ago when I first started out as a fury...but, I've not been frightened for ages.”

“Yeah, like you're a fury and doing all the brave stuff sorta comes with the territory, but...” Glinda sighed again, this time sadly, “...but I'm not brave at all. When those war-pigs grabbed me I'd have done anything to get them to let me go and not kill me...”

“Hey,” Inanna tried to make Glinda feel better, “my best friend is a way powerful witch, but she's not very good at all the scary, combat stuff, but she always gets over it and comes through with just the right spell. I expect you'll be just the same...”

“But I'm not,” Glinda turned to look at Inanna, “I ran away from my friends when they needed me the most. I was too frightened to help you go after those children...”

“But you're here now,” Inanna pointed out.

“Only because I was too frightened to ride through the forest by myself...” Glinda sobbed, “...I'm useless, a coward who'll let her friends down to save her own skin.”

“Oh, I'm sure you're not as bad as all that,” Inanna put her arm around Glinda's shoulder and tried to comfort the girl.

“But I am!” wailed the witch, “You should kill me now before I have a chance to sell you out to save my own life.”

“Look,” Inanna took a deep breath and wished Ayasha was here, she always knew the right thing to say in situations like this, “you can come with me and I'll teach you how to be brave,” she wasn't sure how she'd achieve this, but she'd give it a go, “in a couple of weeks I'll be having you storming the fortress of evil and saving the princess single handed.”

“There's princess'?” Glinda asked as she slipped her free hand inside Inanna's shirt and rested it on her breast.

“Ooooookay...” Inanna disentangled herself from Glinda's embrace and shuffled along the tree trunk a little, “...I think we're both tired and emotional and I think its time for us to get some sleep...” Inanna caught the hopeful look in Glinda's eyes, “...alone!”

0=0=0=0


	4. Chapter 4

4.

Awaking to the sound and smell of frying bacon, Inanna groaned as she rolled over onto her back, she felt like she'd only had about five minutes sleep before she'd been called back to the land of the living. Having wrapped herself in her rather itchy blanket the night before she'd tossed and turned on the cold, hard ground before eventually falling into an exhausted slumber. Even then she couldn't rest properly, her dreams were haunted by visions of vampires, demons and a pig-faced monster who was about to chow down on her leg. Nightmares that she couldn't awake from showed sister Aurora and her lover Ayasha being torn to pieces by The Others and their minions; of all her friends being killed in bloody and painful ways as she stood incapable of helping them. In a way she was glad that morning had come so she had an excuse to get up and not be tormented by the imaginings of her mind. 

Rolling back her blanket, Inanna pushed herself up-right and yawned and stretched, as her clothes moved (she'd not undressed the previous night) she caught a whiff of her own body odour; she decided she needed a bath, she wanted soap and a scrubbing brush. Running her fingers through her hair so it wasn't hanging in front of her eyes, she added a hair brush and comb to the list of things she wanted. As she had often pointed out she wasn't an outdoors type girl. Okay, yes, she'd gone out into the wilderness near her home with Ayasha a few times but they'd never stayed out overnight, they'd always come back to civilisation at the end of whatever 'vision quest' they'd been on at the time.

Now, Inanna had the strongest of feelings that any form of 'civilisation' was a long way off and if she ever did get back to it she had a _really_ bad feeling it wouldn't be like any civilisation she was used to. Perhaps, she told herself, it was time to admit that things weren't going to ever go back to how she had once known them and to deal with things in the here and now...or get loads of money because lots of money made most anywhere more comfortable.

“So you're awake,” Glinda called as she squatted by the fire, frying pan in hand, “I thought I'd make breakfast because I sorta guessed you wouldn't know how, you probably had servants to do it for you back home, right?”

“Yeah, whatever,” Inanna said as she moved and winced at all her aches and pains; she had aches in places she'd not known she'd had places, the ground was not only hard but full of rocks that had poked into her no matter where she'd lain, “Is there somewhere I can wash?”

“Wash?” Glinda laughed humourlessly, “Not enough water to wash, we better find a spring or river today or we're not going to have anything to drink let alone wash...” the witch gestured to the coffee pot with her frying pan, “...we've got coffee, that'll help you wake up.”

“Thanks,” Inanna stood up; the mention of coffee reminded her bladder that it was full and she really needed to empty it, “Erm...I'm going to...” Inanna gestured to the surrounding trees, “...I need to...”

“Don't go too far,” Glinda replied without even looking up from her cooking, “and don't forget to take your sword.”

“What do I need my sword for?” Inanna could think of several things she needed and none of them were her sabre.

“Remember?” this time Glinda did look up at her companion, “Wolves, monsters, unpleasant people...you really are an innocent, aren't you?”

“You wait 'til I wake up,” Inanna replied as she picked up her weapons and stumbled towards the treeline, “then I'll show you how innocent I am.”

“Whatever,” Glinda replied with a shrug, “don't take too long coz breakfast is nearly ready.”

“Yeah, right,” Inanna said with another yawn as she headed for the 'bathroom'.

0=0=0=0

Moving between the trees, Inanna calculated that she was far enough away from the camp so Glinda couldn't see or hear her. Hanging her sabre from a convenient branch, she started to unbuckle the belt that held up her pants. After sliding her pants down over her knees she squatted down and started to pee. As she crouched there Inanna lamented her lack of underwear, she also started to wonder what she was supposed to do when she had her period. Finishing off what she'd needed to do and feeling much more comfortable, she next considered telling Glinda about how she'd been magicked here by an evil witch, after all it was the truth and Ayasha used to say that the truth always made the basis for the best lies.

The thought of Ayasha made her feel sad once again. Just now she could really use Ayasha's help and advice... Screw that, she thought, she wanted all her friends here _**now**_! But that, she realised, was not going to happen, or was it? Maybe she hadn't been the only one to be snatched from the jaws of death, perhaps some of her friends were even now wandering around a forest somewhere wondering what had happened and if there was anyone they knew in the same situation.

Whatever, Inanna signed as she returned to the camp. Questions about feminine 'hygiene' and where all her family and friends were would have to wait until the present emergency was over. A scream that sounded an awful lot like Glinda's scream snapped Inanna out of her thoughts of friends and home. Drawing her sabre and casting away the sheath, she moved quickly towards the camp site all the time wondering what sort of new horror she'd be facing. Bursting out into the clearing she found herself looking at the wrong end of half-a-dozen arrows.

“Drop the sword 'pale-face',” came a commanding voice from over to her right.

Turning her head to bring the speaker into view, Inanna saw a tall, stunningly attractive blonde girl dressed very much in the style of an Injun from back home. Shifting her gaze from the young woman, who judging from all the feathers woven into her hair was the leader, Inanna found she was facing about a dozen similarly clothed Injuns who like their leader tended towards suntanned blondes.

“I think I'll keep it, thank-you,” Inanna replied as she glanced to where two Injuns were holding Glinda by the arms, “so what do you want?”

“I want to know where you've hidden the children you stole,” the leader asked in a calm voice, “if you tell me were you've hidden them I won't have you staked out over an ant hill.”

“Let my friend go, we've not got your kids,” Inanna replied in an equally calm voice, “in fact we're looking for some children that were taken by some pig-faced-war-pigs-things.”

“You are?”

“Uh-huh,” nodded Inanna.

“Oh...” the Indian chief looked a little crest fallen at this news, “...I have to admit that I did think it somewhat unlikely that just the two of you had run off with a dozen or more of our children...damn...” the Injun chief signalled for her warriors to let Glinda go and lower their weapons, “I'm sorry I'm forgetting my manners,” the chief moved towards where Inanna stood and held out her hand, “I'm Gemma Swift Arrow, war-commissar of the Nancy-girl tribe...”

Inanna clamped her hand across her mouth in an effort to prevent the bark of laughter escaping, she almost succeeded only letting out a sound that could easily be mistaken for a cough.

“Inanna...” Inanna replied quickly as she held out her own hand, “...Inanna the Fury and this is Glinda a Witch of the North...I'm sorry but I have to ask...the Nancy-girl tribe?”

“Erm, yes,” Gemma looked slightly embarrassed, “...according to legend Nancy was the name of the First Mother who founded the tribe after the People fell from the sky.”

“Fell from the sky?” Inanna asked; and why shouldn't a tribe fall from the sky? After all it was no stranger than her own story.

0=0=0=0

After sending two of her 'Comrades' (after all they were 'Red' Injuns) to collect their horses, Gemma sat with Inanna and Glinda as they ate their breakfast, the Injuns having already eaten. It would appear that the 'Nancy-girl' tribe (once again Inanna had to try very hard not to laugh at the name) lived a couple of days ride to the east. The Nancy-girls, from what Inanna was given to understand, farmed and raised horses. They hunted only to supplement their diet during the winter months and were generally peaceful having good relations with all the surrounding human and even some of the demonic communities.

About three days ago someone had sneaked into one of their villages and stolen thirteen children and killed several of the kidnapped girls parents. Gemma and her warriors had been dispatched to fallow the trail left by the kidnappers. Within a few hours they'd found one child dead on the trail, shortly after that they'd somehow lost sight of the kidnapper's path, Gemma suspected that the kidnappers had used magic to cover their tracks. Since then they'd been riding in the general direction in which the kidnappers had been moving hoping against hope that they'd pick up the kidnapper's trail again.

“You've no magic users of your own?” Glinda asked.

“We only have a very few Medicine Women of our own and the closest is three or four days hard ride away,” Gemma explained sadly.

“Good job I'm here then,” Glinda pointed out, “I'm surprised our lot haven't used magic to cover their tracks.”

“Perhaps they don't know they're being followed,” Gemma pointed out, “and how come there's just the two of you?”

“It was a spur of the moment thing,” Inanna explained, “Glinda got captured by the War-pigs and I sorta stumbled on the scene, saw demons and killed them!”

“Very brave,” Gemma pointed out.

“It's what I do,” Inanna replied with a modest shrug.

“She's a fury,” Glinda pointed out helpfully.

“A fury?” Gemma grinned as she wrapped Inanna in a fury strength hug, “Then we're doubly well met, I've was chosen by the Great Mother myself when I was just fifteen summers old.”

“Yeah...right...” Inanna suddenly found out what it was like to be hugged by an excited fury, she silently apologised to everyone she'd nearly crushed over the years.

“Two Chosen-ones,” Gemma smiled, “a witch and my brave comrades, what can stop us now?”

“Oh I can think of a dozen things that live in this forest,” Glinda pointed out soberly.

0=0=0=0

After breaking camp, the slightly enlarged war party made their way further into the forest. The Injuns all rode sturdy looking ponies with only a blanket for a saddle and a very basic looking bridle, even so they didn't appear to have any difficulty in controlling their mounts and none of them fell off their horses. About half the warriors were armed with bows, the others carried spears or lances; all carried large knives or small swords plus tomahawks. Most of the young women wore buckskin 'chaps' and breach cloths, one or two wore fringed buckskin shirts that were long enough to be skirts that left there long, suntanned legs bare. The others wore a mixture of linen shirts or buckskin waist coats not unlike the one Inanna was wearing over her shirt. Gemma wore chaps, a breach-cloth and a waistcoat that she left unbuttoned so that every time Inanna looked at her, she could see her breasts as they rode together. While all the warriors wore one or two feathers in their hair, Gemma had about twenty or thirty woven into her long, blonde, tresses; obviously a badge of her rank.

0=0=0=0

“...every settlement keeps one or two males for breeding,” Gemma explained as she rode along beside Inanna.

“How does that work?” Inanna frowned, in her hometown no one kept males for anything.

“Well,” Gemma took a deep breath, “when one of the wives wants to have a baby she gets one of us chosen to chain a male to the breeding bench so she can mount him and have him shoot his seed into her...its called 'riding the beast'.”

“Ewwww!” Inanna 'ewww-d' in disgust, the idea of letting a male inside her made her feel decidedly ill.

“Ewww?” Gemma replied as she gave Inanna a surprised look, “What do you mean, 'Ewww'?”

“Well...” Inanna didn't feel very comfortable talking about 'males', “...well...its a male...how could you let one squirt his stuff inside you its...well...its disgusting only animals do that sort of thing!”

“Is not!” Gemma replied forcefully.

“Is too!” Inanna replied with equal determination, “I mean...don't you have the 'Tree of Life'?”

“Yes...” Gemma nodded, “...but...”

“But what?” Inanna noted Gemma's uncomfortable expression.

“Well...its not natural is it?” the Injun girl explained.

“And you think letting a male inside you is?” Inanna demanded.

“Yes!” Gemma exclaimed, “So your people use the Tree of Life? That's taboo in my tribe, the legends say that the tree of life just appeared after the wars against The Others ended. The Medicine Women said they were unnatural and we shouldn't use them...”

“Its better than letting a male jerk around inside you,” Inanna muttered.

“Alright then,” Gemma asked belligerently, “how do your wives get pregnant if you don't use males?”

“I don't have a wife,” Inanna explained, “although sometimes I think I might marry Ayasha, I mean we're about the same age and we've known each other since we were kids and...”

“Okay!” Gemma interrupted Inanna's babble, “Lets say you and your friend Ayasha get married and she wants to have a baby...what do you do?”

“Well, first you go to the 'Tree of Life' orchard...” Inanna started to explain.

“Orchard?” Gemma interrupted wanting some clarification.

“That's where we cultivate our Trees of Life,” Inanna informed her companion, “Next you pick one of the seed pods,” she continued, “then you cut it open and take out all the seeds. After you've washed them you squeeze out all the juice...”

“Juice?” Gemma looked just a little queasy now.

“Then you strain it through a cloth to get any bits out of it,” Inanna continued unaware how her explanation was affecting the girl next to her, “the you pour the juice into a turkey baster and...”

“I think I get what comes next,” Gemma replied before adding, “and you think this is more natural than using a male?”

“Uh-huh,” Inanna nodded resolutely, “anyway we hunt and kill any males that come into our territory and if any males are born to women in the town we kill those too!” 

“Isn't that a bit short sighted?” Gemma asked, “I mean what happens if someone sneaks in a burns down your Tree of Life orchard?”

“We have spares hidden away in the forest,” Inanna replied.

“Still seems a little wasteful to me,” Gemma gave her companion puzzled look just as she snatched the crossbow bolt out of the air and snapped it in two, “...ambush,” she told Inanna calmly as more bolts zipped in from out of the forest

0=0=0=0


	5. Chapter 5

5.

A crossbow bolt flew by within inches of the nose of Inanna's horse causing it to rear up onto its hind legs in panic. Slipping from her saddle, Inanna slid over the horse's rump to land heavily on her butt in the middle of the track. Momentarily stunned by her sudden and hard contact with the ground, she looked on as horses and riders parted company and more crossbow bolts sleeted in from the trees next to the trail. The sound of a horse screaming in pain drew her eyes to where an Injun pony stood with a bolt sticking out of its neck. The horse trembled as blood gushed from the wound before it fell over sideways and blocked the path.

A loud savage grunting, made Inanna turn her head and sent her right hand searching for the hilt of her sword. Not more than four or five paces away from where she sat trying to draw her blade stood a War-pig armed with a halberd. Seeing what he thought was a helpless victim sitting in the middle of the trail the creature gave a piggy-like laugh and advanced on Inanna raising its weapon as it did so. The War-pig hadn't taken more than two steps when four arrows sprouted from its chest. The war-pig squealed loudly as it clutched at the shaft, first it fell to its knees before slowly falling forward onto its snout.

Jumping to her feet, Inanna was once again aware of action all around her as more war-pigs burst from cover at the side of the trail to engage the Nancy-girl Injuns. For their part the Injuns had formed into groups of two with one bow-woman being protected by another woman using a spear or tomahawk and fighting knife. Sabre in hand Inanna jumped in where the action was thickest. Knocking aside a spear thrust, she lunged at a war-pig and saw the tip of her sabre disappear into the creature's stomach. Making a gurgling squeal the war-pig fell at her feet as she turned to exchange blows with a particularly big war-pig who swung a large, heavy scimitar at her head.

Ducking under the blow, Inanna swung her own sword at the pig's legs, but the creature was surprisingly fast on its trotter-like feet. Jumping back out of the range of Inanna's sword the creature came 'on guard' again before renewing its attack. This time the war-pig tried to slice Inanna in two, deflecting the blade directed at her head, she lashed out with a side kick that totally failed to make contact with the pig's knee. Instead her booted foot hit the war-pig's thigh making it stumble a little. However, a little was enough and Inanna sprang forward once more to take advantage of the pig's momentary loss of balance.

Ramming her shoulder into the pig's stomach, she heaved upwards sending the pig over her shoulder. The creature landed heavily on its back which knocked the breath from its lungs. With a shout of triumph Inanna thrust with her sword into the beast's stomach and pushed hard sending her blade cutting through the war-pig's vitals until it coughed up blood and stopped moving. Yanking her sabre from the war-pig's body, Inanna turned to see how the battle was going. 

For all their strength and size the war-pigs were generally slower than their opponents and didn't appear to be very good fighters. The Injun girls seemed to be getting the better of the war-pigs. While two or three Injun girls were down the dozen or so war-pigs who'd attacked had been reduced to six or seven. Even as she watched, Gemma thrust a spear clean through the chest of a war-pig. However, the Injuns weren't having it all their own way. Seeing an Injun girl being knocked to the ground, Inanna moved to come up behind the pig who was standing over the warrior, its scimitar raised ready to cut the girl in two. Swinging her sabre, Inanna hit the pig in the back neatly severing its spine. Frozen with its sword still raised high the pig fell forward to land on top of the downed Injun girl.

“Damn-it!” Inanna muttered angrily as she grabbed hold of the pig's legs and started to drag the animal off the injured Nancy-girl.

“Inanna!”

The warning came from behind her, as Inanna turned the world seemed to slow down as she looked up into the face of the biggest, meanest, most evil looking war-pig in this part of the forest. The pig was armed with an enormous battle axe. It was only the fact that the monster pig was still winding up for the death blow that prevented Inanna from being killed right there and then. Given a little time, Inanna managed to bring up the blade of her sword only to have it knocked to one side as the axe fell with an ominous whooshing sound. However, she'd got her sword up in time and it was enough to knock the axe off course so that the side of the blade only caught her a glancing blow.

Seeing stars, Inanna staggered to her right before falling to her knees, her right arm felt like it was made of lead, she tried to raise her sword to fend off the blow that she knew was coming and would probably end her life. Once again the war-pig raised its huge axe, ready to send it crashing down on her head and bring her short career as a free-booting fury to a premature end. Expecting to see the axe swoop towards her any second now, Inanna was surprised to see a good twelve inches of slim, steel blade sprout from the pig's chest. Comic surprise painted the pig's face for a moment as it wondered about the sudden change in its fortunes. Dropping its axe behind it, the pig crumpled to the ground to reveal Glinda hopping about on one foot from where the axe had landed on her toes.

“Glinda!” Inanna cried as she scrambled back to her feet, “Are you okay?”

“Ow!” Glinda hopped over to the side of the track and sat down heavily as she nursed her foot, “I think my toes are broken.”

Looking around and seeing that the fight had ended, Inanna rushed over to see if there was anything she could do for her friend.

“Here let me help you take your boot off,” Inanna said as she knelt next to Glinda and put down her sword.

“Ow, ow, owww!” Glinda cried as Inanna pulled the girl's boot off as gently as she could, “Is it bad?”

“Erm...” Inanna examined the damaged appendage, “...I don't think its broken, just bruised...and thanks for saving my life by-the-way.”

“Just bruised?” Glinda almost sounded disappointed, “Are you sure its not broken...and you're welcome I couldn't let that male-chauvinist-pig kill the only friend I have in the world.”

“I'm very proud of you too,” Inanna cradled Glinda's foot in her lap.

“Why's that?”

“You didn't run away.”

“No I didn't did I?” Glinda smiled forgetting her wounded foot for a moment.

“Anyone hurt?” Gemma asked as she came over to where Inanna and Glinda were sitting.

“Just a couple of bruised toes,” Inanna explained, “Painful but not life threatening.”

“Not life threatening?” this time Glinda definitely sounded disappointed.

“Hmmm...” Gemma bent down to examine Glinda's foot and nodded agreement with Inanna's diagnosis, “...tell you what,” she smiled, “we'll call this 'The Battle of Wounded Foot'.”

“Thank-you so much,” Glinda replied with heavy sarcasm.

“How many...?” Inanna stood up and turned to watch as the Nancy-girls cleared up after the battle.

“Two dead and three wounded,” Gemma explained, “we also lost four horses...I'll have to send two of the wounded back to our village with the dead so we've lost another four horses. That leaves us with six including the ones belonging to yourself and Glinda.”

“Damn,” Inanna muttered.

“Hey, what about me I'm wounded too,” Glinda pointed out.

“A mere limp,” Gemma replied dismissively.

“Not fair,” Glinda grumbled.

“You think there's any more out there?” Inanna eyed the trees warily.

“Bound to be,” Gemma pointed, “I think we must be near their main camp. For all their size and strength, War-pigs are cowards. To get them to attack at one-to-one odds we must be close to something they value or there's something they're very frightened of telling them what to do.”

“So, what do we do now?” Inanna asked before pointing out, “You're the expert on these things, this isn't like the fighting I'm used to back home.”

“Is it not?” Gemma asked raising an eyebrow, “Well...,” the war-commissar fell silent for a moment before speaking again, “...I'm thinking of leaving the horses behind, they make too much noise anyway, we'd do better on foot. We'll just take food, water and weapons and track these,” she gestured to the dead pigs, “back to their camp or wherever they're hold up. Once there we'll reassess the situation.”

“Sounds good to me,” Inanna agreed with an eager nod.

“What about me?” Glinda complained.

“Well...” Gemma mused, “...you could go back with the wounded and horses, but that's risky, there maybe more pigs about. Or, you could stay here...alone, or you could come with us and take on the pigs in their liar.”

For just a moment, Glinda considered her options.

“I'll come with you,” she said finally, “safety in numbers and all that!”

0=0=0=0

After a quick break for food and water, Gemma sent the wounded and spare horses back to their village before setting off through the forest in search of the War-pig's liar. All the Nancy-girls appeared to be expert trackers and there was no difficulty in following the route taken by the war-pig band who'd ambushed them. Unfortunately, however, the pigs had used the same trail that the Nancy-girls had been on, only leaving the track shortly before attacking the warriors. Very soon Gemma, Inanna and the rest of their band found themselves on the very same track that they'd started out on, but a couple of miles further on. After only a moment's thought, Gemma decided to take a path through the trees that paralleled the route taken by the main trail and about fifty paces to its right.

They made surprisingly good progress moving through the forest. The trees were widely spaced and the underbrush only grew in isolated clumps that were easily avoided. Every hour or so the band took a short rest to drink from their canteens before continuing with their journey. As they moved they alternated between walking quickly and jogging, Inanna left that she could keep up this sort of pace for days. Even Glinda appeared to have no problem keeping up, even with her 'wounded' toes. At some point towards the late afternoon one of the scouts, named Comrade Catherine Sure Foot, appeared out of the trees to report that she'd found the war-pig's camp. Leaving the rest of the band, Gemma, Inanna and Glinda crept forward with Catherine to spy out the land and plan what they were going to do.

“Not good,” Gemma said as they approached a spot about one-hundred-and-fifty paces away from the war-pig camp.

Crawling up beside Gemma, Inanna was forced to agree with the war-commissar's assessment. The camp was in the bow of a small river that meandered along the floor of the valley below them. There had to be about two dozen tents of various sizes and right in the middle of the camp was a wooden cage containing twenty to thirty human children.

“There's enough tents down there for forty or fifty war-pigs,” Gemma pointed out, “too many for us to fight.”

“Then we don't fight them,” Inanna pointed out.

“What do you mean?” Gemma asked, “We can't just leave the children to the mercy of those pigs.”

“Excuse me,” Glinda said quietly as she joined Inanna and Gemma as they looked down into the camp, “but this is odd.”

“What's odd?” Inanna wanted to know.

“Look,” Glinda started to explain, “War-pigs aren't known for taking prisoners. Normally they kill and eat any adults they catch after raping them. The children, being smaller are usually kept for a while, not long, but the pigs will normally rape them to death then eat them within a few days of catching them...”

“Ewww,” Inanna observed, “they're really into this rape thing.”

“They're demons, servants of The Others, what do you expect?” Gemma asked.

“So, what's 'odd'?” Inanna asked.

“Well, it looks like they've kept some of those kids for several days,” Glinda explained, “now the raping and eating thing is what the pigs call fun. Either they're saving them for a major party, which is unlikely, pigs aren't big into forward planing, or...”

“Or?” Inanna and Gemma said together.

“Or there's something or someone that the pigs are pretty scared of who's stopping them from just using up those girls as soon as they capture them.”

“Always useful to have someone around who knows the enemy's habits,” Inanna said feeling a little sick to her stomach, “Why can't there be demons who drink tea and eat sandwiches?”

“So you think there's something else down there?” Gemma asked.

“Uh-huh,” Glinda nodded.

“Like that?” Inanna pointed to where a tall woman in a long black dress made her way through the camp escorted by two, large, horned demons.

The demons were taller than either the war-pigs or the human-appearing woman they guarded, their skin was of a vibrant scarlet hue, they had large teeth and long curved horns which grew from the sides of their heads; they walked on hooves and had vestigial wings growing from their backs. The war-pigs bowed as the human woman and her demons walked by, she certainly had some sort of power over the pigs as they made no move to attack, rape or eat her.

“A Sorceress of Mersept!” gasped Glinda. 

“A who?” Inanna and Gemma asked together.

“A Sorceress of Mersept,” Glinda repeated, “the most evil, low down, nasty, vile and degenerate order of magic users in the world...but they always wear nice clothes.”

Looking at the sorceress again, Inanna had to admit that the woman had style, a little like a really evil version of Ayasha.

“Just how powerful is she?” Gemma wanted to know.

“Powerful,” Glinda answered without really answering.

“Like helpful, much,” Inanna added.

“Look, she's powerful enough to raise at least two big, vicious demons and get them to work for her. Normally those things would rip her apart...”

“And eat her?” Inanna asked hopefully.

“No,” Glinda shook her head, “just kill her...but it explains the children...”

“Explain,” Inanna said while at the same time not wanting Glinda to explain as no doubt the explanation wouldn't be very 'nice'.

“Obviously that bitch-witch is going to use those children as part of some evil spell...” Glinda looked at her two companions, “...we've got to stop her.”

The sorceress was now standing next to the cage filled with children, she seemed to be counting them. When she'd finished she called over a war-pig officer and said something to him. After a moment or two the war-pig turned away from the sorceress and started to give orders to his soldiers. Very soon the camp was alive with activity as war-pigs moved around the edge of the forest collecting fire wood before piling it in the centre of the camp.

“This is bad,” Glinda muttered, “very bad...”

“I totally know I'm not going to like the answer, but what's going on?” Inanna asked.

“I'm not sure,” Glinda replied, “but whatever it is it looks like the stars are right and its happening tonight!”

0=0=0=0


	6. Chapter 6

6.

“As I see it,” Gemma announced as she drew a map of the war-pig camp in the earth with a twig, “this is a job for Inanna, Glinda and myself,” she looked up at her warriors who were squatting on the ground around the map, “the rest of you'll be there to watch our backs and get the children away.”

“Erm...” Glinda hesitantly held up her hand, “...why do I need to go down into the camp? Wouldn't it be better if I stayed up here and kept a look-out or something?”

“In the dark?” Gemma asked, “By yourself?”

“Hey, Glinda,” Inanna spoke up, “we'll need you down in the camp to counter that sorceress woman's magic.”

“But...but...” Glinda began but was cut off by Gemma.

“You're comin' with Inanna an' me, no arguments!”

“Oh...” Glinda relapsed into silence.

“Here's what we do,” Gemma gestured towards her roughly drawn map, “Inanna an' me will sneak down into the valley just before dusk. We'll take a route down stream through the trees so we won't be spotted from the camp. We'll cross the river and work our way through the trees 'til we're as close to that cage thing as we can get. Then we'll lie up there 'til it gets fully dark.” Gemma looked up and looked at Catherine the scout, “Comrade Catherine, I want you to lead the rest of the comrades and follow our trail, but don't come up to the wood-line until after Inanna and me have made our move. When we do, move forward and be ready to get those children out of that cage as quickly as you can, understand?”

“Understood, Comrade,” Catherine nodded, “once we've got the children out what do we do?”

“Get as far away from here as you can,” Gemma ordered, “don't wait around for me an' Inanna we'll make our own way home...” Gemma paused for a moment before adding, “...head towards the Fallen Tree settlement that's the closest. Remember, your job is to get the children to safety nothing else matters”

“Yes Comrade Commissar,” Catherine Sure Foot nodded gravely.

“Now Glinda...” Gemma turned to face the young witch, “...you'll come with Inanna an' me. Your job is to make sure that sorceress doesn't interfere while Inanna an' I rescue the children, can you do that.”

“I suppose so,” Glinda replied uncertainly, “but she is a sorceress and I'm only a novice witch so...”

“I never understood,” Inanna mused, “just what's the difference between a witch and a sorceress?”

“As far as I can see,” Gemma said, “not a lot...but, sorceress' usually have fancier clothes and more money.”

“There's more to it than that!” Glinda complained, “There's...”

“Look we've no time to ague the pros and cons of witches and sorceress',” Gemma announced bringing Glinda's lecture to a halt before it'd even begun, “we've got...” Gemma looked up at the sky between the tree tops to gauge the time, “maybe an hour 'til its dusk, I suggest we all check our weapons and maybe eat and drink something, right?”

“RIGHT!” replied the warriors as the group broke up and went about their preparations.

“This is going to be a hard fight isn't it?” Inanna asked as she drew her sabre and checked the edge for sharpness.

“Yes,” Gemma nodded as she too drew her fighting knife and tomahawk before starting to sharpen them, “and one that you and I might very well not survive.”

“That's depressing,” Inanna agreed, “but I'm guessing we've both been in situations where we've totally been convinced we were going to die.”

“You're right,” Gemma smiled as she slipped her weapons back into her belt seemingly satisfied that they were sharp enough, “this won't be my first dance around the camp fire or the first time I've sung my death song.”

“Death song?” Inanna quieried.

“Uh-huh,” Gemma smirked at Inanna, “don't worry I won't start singing it just yet, what about you?”

“I fought a hell goddess, or at least something that thought she was a goddess once,” Inanna explained, “I thought I was going to die then, but, I had to rescue one of my sisters so I tried not to think about failing...”

“You have sisters?” Gemma asked as she made sure the head of her lance was firmly in place.

“I don't know,” Inanna replied as she slipped her sabre back into its sheath, “the last battle I was in ended badly and I don't know if she or any of my friends survived.”

“That's sad,” Gemma came to sit next to Inanna and put her arm around her shoulders, “I'm lucky I know where all my sisters and friends are...my friends are all here and my sisters are safely at home with my mothers...I would be proud to call you sister, Inanna...even if your people are a little weird.”

“Thanks...” Inanna turned to look at Gemma and for a moment as she looked into the Injun girl's eyes and almost kissed her, “...t-thanks that's kind of you,” Inanna backed off, “but before we go off and plat each other's hair we've got a battle to fight,” she looked over to where Glinda sat by herself sharpening the end of her sword, “and a witch to convince to not run away.”

“Friend Glinda,” Gemma called, “don't sit there by yourself come and sit with us and tell us what you're going to turn that sorceress bitch into.”

0=0=0=0

It was dark under the trees, but fury eyesight allowed Inanna and Gemma to move quickly and quietly between the trees and clumps of underbrush. Holding on to Glinda by the wrist, partly to stop her running off and hiding but mostly to make sure she didn't blunder into a tree or something and give there position away, Inanna glanced off to her right. There across the river the war-pigs made the finishing touches to a great bonfire. The cage where all the children were kept was situated in the centre of the war-pig camp as was the fire, so far there'd been no sign of the sorceress since she'd gone away after counting the children. Pausing in the shadow of a large tangle of bushes Gemma turned to Glinda.

“Have you any idea what that sorceress means to do?”

“No,” Glinda shook her head, “it could be anything from a really spectacular glamour to opening a new gate way for The Others to come through...it all depends on what she wants with the children...I mean it could be something as simple as turning them into her mindless slaves or she could be going to sacrifice them to some evil goddess, if that's the case and she succeeds then we're all as good as dead!”

“Hey!” Inanna interrupted, “I've fought and defeated an evil goddess they're not so tough...”

“Alright,” Gemma smiled, “any evil goddess' I'll leave it in your hands seeing you're the expert.”

“Yeah, well,” Inanna shrugged, “I had the war-hammer of a demon god to hit her with and I seem to have totally left it at home.”

“We're doooomed,” Glinda wailed quietly.

“Its not over 'til the fat cannibal lady disembowels you with her gutting knife,” Gemma pointed out.

“Eww!” Inanna ewwed.

“I feel sick, can I go home now?” Glinda asked.

“Alright, enough of this hilarity,” suddenly Gemma was all war-commissar again, “lets move, we don't want the girls catching up with us by mistake now do we?”

As they moved off towards the river, Inanna thought to herself how Gemma sometimes sounded like Ayasha and once she'd thought that, she wondered how come the Nancy-girls all sounded so well spoken, like they were all important Ladies or something. Plus there was the 'falling from the sky' thing. Perhaps, one day she'd get to hear the full story, but not today.

It only took a few more minutes before Gemma, Inanna and Glinda were lying in cover on the bank of the river that separated them from the war-pig's camp. As they watched from behind a fallen tree they heard and saw the war-pigs ignite their bonfire. The dry branches exploded with a soft 'whoosh!' and flames and sparks leapt into the night sky.

“I hope everyone's in place,” Gemma said in a hushed voice.

“I could go and check if you like,” Glinda volunteered.

Before Gemma could refuse Glinda's offer, there was some action over in the camp. The war-pigs squealed with surprise as the sorceress and her demonic bodyguards stepped out of the shadows and into the open space in front of the fire.

“Very dramatic,” Inanna observed, before drawing her sabre and dumping the scabbard.

“Nothing but a parlour trick,” Glinda pointed out, “she just waited 'til everyone was looking at the fire and then stepped into the light, no magic needed.”

“Well thank-you for explaining, Sabrina,” Inanna said, “and there was me thinking we were totally like screwed.”

“Sabrina?”

“A famous witch where I come from, I'll explain later,” Inanna replied, “hey, something's happening.”

Having their attention drawn back to the camp, they saw the sorceress give a signal. At the sign one of the war-pigs left the group around the fire and went over to the cage where one of the two guards opened the door. As the war-pig entered the cage the children started to cry out in fear as they tried to get as far away from the war-pig as they could. But, the cage was small and crowded and it only took the war pig a moment to catch hold of the arm of a girl and drag her kicking and screaming towards the exit. Once out of the cage the guards once again secured the door as the war-pig tossed the girl on to his shoulder as if she weighed nothing.

“I have a _very_ bad feeling about this...” Glinda whispered.

Walking over to the fire the war-pig held up the girl in one hand so the sorceress could see her clearly. The sorceress nodded to the war-pig who then threw the screaming girl into the centre of the fire as the sorceress began to chant the words to her spell.

“Oh my goddess!” Gemma cried as Glinda retched and threw-up.

“We go now,” Inanna said with a steely resolve, “we'll just have to hope everyone is in position...are you with me?”

“Ready,” Gemma said as she stood up and clutched hold of her lance more firmly.

“Ready,” Glinda whimpered as she too readied her sword and buckler.

“Lets go!” springing over the tree trunk Inanna soon found herself up to her knees in freezing cold water as she splashed her way across the river towards the far shore. Behind her she could sense Gemma only half a pace behind her, while Glinda came on as fast as she could. 

The water got shallower and the three avengers found themselves once again on dry land. Rushing up the river bank, Inanna and Gemma drew ahead of Glinda to leave the witch to make her own way into the camp as best she could. Swerving and dodging between the war-pig's tents, Inanna saw the pig make its way towards the cage obviously to collect a second victim. This time when the captive girls saw the pig enter the cage they screamed with terror now they knew what fate awaited them and tried to pull down the cage itself.

The war-pig having selected its victim moved towards the doorway to the prison just as Inanna and Gemma arrived at the cage. Splitting up they ran around opposite sides of the cage until they came to where the two guards stood. Blinded by the light of the fire and deafened by the screams of the captive girls the pigs never noticed the two furies until it was far too late for them to defend themselves. Drawing back her sabre, Inanna cut her war-pig's head off, the severed head bounced across the dusty ground as Gemma rammed her lance straight through the other guard until there was nearly two feet of spear gleaming wetly from the pigs back. The third pig burst out from the cage with an angry squeal, its scimitar drawn and ready for action. In an instant the creature was set upon by two fast moving furies. The war-pig didn't stand a chance and was quickly cut into pork chops and streaky bacon.

“QUIET!” Gemma cried in a commanding voice and all the girls in the cage fell into a terrified silence, “Come out the cage, NOW, and head down to the river,” Gemma pointed towards the river, “my warriors will be there to help you get away, now move quickly and quietly...” when none of the girls moved she shouted, “MOVE!” in the kind of voice that was difficult to argue with.

Waiting for a moment, Inanna and Gemma watched as the first few children exited the cage and started to head towards the river.

“Time to move on,” Gemma said as she watched the girls disappear into the darkness.

“No time like the present,” agreed Inanna, turning she almost ran into a war-pig who'd been sent to find out what the delay was in bringing another victim to the fire was.

Breaking the blade of the pig's scimitar with one stroke of her sabre, Inanna rammed her own blade into the war-pig's guts and twisted it from side to side before pulling it out again. The war-pig oinked loudly as it fell to the ground.

“That's torn it!” Gemma said, “They'll all come to see what's going on now.”

“I'm good with that,” Inanna replied, “if they come to us we won't have to totally hunt them down.”

“I like the way you think,” Gemma replied as she turned to face the swine.

The war-pigs attacked but they came on in ones or twos and were easily defeated by the furies, if they'd waited to get themselves organised and had attacked in a group, who knows they might have prevailed. But, as it was they died loudly and bloodily as the furies hacked and stabbed them until the last few pigs ran off into the night.

0=0=0=0

Forgotten by her friends Glinda hid behind a tent and argued with herself about whether she should run away or try to face the sorceress. Having convinced herself that the sorceress could sweep her into oblivion with just a wave of her hand, Glinda was more inclined to stay exactly where she was or even run for her life into the forest. However, the sounds of battle came clearly and loudly to her ears. She could hear Gemma's warcry as she fought and the occasional sarcastic comment or pun come from Inanna's lips; she also remembered the screams of the girl who had died in agony after being tossed so contemptuously into the fire.

Children were important, they were the future and even Glinda would push her fear aside to help even one child in fear and pain. It was in her blood and she really couldn't help herself even when she wanted to runaway. Taking a firmer grip on her sword and buckler, Glinda moved through the tents towards the spot where she'd last seen the sorceress. Crouching behind a shelter she watched as the sorceress stood as she tried to figure out what was going on. Just for a moment, Glinda couldn't help but think how stylish the sorceress looked. No doubt the woman had used a lot of glamours to look that good so there was no knowing what she actually looked like.

Once again doubt entered Glinda's mind, a sorceress who could keep that many glamours working while she did powerful magicks must be very powerful indeed and what could she, a novice witch do against her? It was as she watched the sorceress and her demon guards that a thought occurred to Glinda, she felt the weight of her rapier in her hand and realised she didn't have to use magic. It would probably cost her her life but all she really had to do was run the sorceress through with her sword. When push came to thrust, true iron beat magic nine times out of ten.

Watching as the sorceress turned away from the now defunct magic ceremony, Glinda broke cover and ran towards the sorceress on feet that seem to have grown wings. Coming up behind her target unnoticed by either the sorceress or her guards, Glinda thrust her sword into the black clad woman's back. Screaming the sorceress tried to turn to face her attacker, but Glinda kept a firm hold on the hilt of her sword while at the same time bringing her buckler around and hitting the woman on the side of the head with the edge of the small, heavy, shield. Hearing and feeling the sorceress' skull fracture under her blow, Glinda pulled her blade free and stepped back ready to defend herself against the two demonic guards.

Falling to the ground the sorceress died at Glinda's feet while the demons looked on in confusion. Seeing that their mistress was dead, the two demons looked at each other, shrugged and turned to walk off into the night. It took Glinda several minutes to realise she was still alive and stop throwing-up.

0=0=0=0

**The Epilogue.**

“How many did we get out?” Inanna asked the next morning as she stood looking out over the deserted war-pig camp.

“Twenty-seven,” Gemma asked, “and no one was killed or injured...at least,” she pointed to the war-pig camp, “no one important.”

“Good,” Inanna smiled at a job well done, “what'll happen to the kids?”

“We'll take them home with us,” Gemma explained, “we'll try to find their families but I suspect they're mostly orphans now.”

“And then what?” Inanna turned to face her friend. 

“Oh there's plenty who'll take them for their own,” Gemma assured her, “don't worry they'll be well looked after.”

“And Glinda?”

“Glinda can come with us too, if she likes,” Gemma turned to look where Glinda was doing magic tricks for the children, “she'll be more than welcome, I think she's proved herself.” 

“I think so too,” Inanna turned back to look down into the valley.

“And what about you, Friend Inanna?” Gemma asked, “What will you do? You know you're more than welcome to join the Nancy-girl tribe...and you know we don't have any of those silly initiation ceremonies where they hang you up hooks through your boobs for a day.”

“Erm...” for a moment Inanna was tempted to take Gemma up on her offer, “...thanks, but no thanks.”

“Pity,” Gemma sighed, “you're an exceptional fury and I for one would welcome you to my lodge and to my bed.”

“Oh!” Inanna blushed pinkly and wondered why she felt so embarrassed, “That's really nice of you to say, but...” Inanna took a deep breath, “...but, I really want to see more of this land and maybe find my way home.”

“I understand,” Gemma replied sadly, “and I wish you well in your quest.”

“Maybe if I ever come back this way I'll look you up,” Inanna replied.

“I hope so,” Gemma said with some feeling, “you'll always be welcome in the lodges of the Nancy-girls...may the goddess guide your steps.”

“And yours,” Inanna replied as she mounted her new horse which had been taken from the war-pigs camp.

After a final wave, Inanna rode off down into the valley to who knows where, leaving her new friends behind her.

The End?


End file.
